Translator: Dj2203
Editor: Dj2203
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With the support of General Zhenyuan and others, Lu Huan’s situation in the court was not difficult. On the contrary, his momentum gradually increased, and he gradually became a new force besides the Crown Prince and the Fifth Prince.
Even before he went to Chengzhou, many of his retainers had already tried every means to get into his household. After he made great contributions in Chengzhou and pleased the emperor in the Golden Palace, officials came to visit him every day, breaking down his doorstep.
The gifts these people brought were incredibly varied. Some sent rare and exquisite items like cloud-patterned inkstones, gold-carved coral jewels, and some even sent craftsmen, wanting to renovate his princely residence. Lu Huan preferred tranquillity and naturally disliked a large group of people constantly bringing artificial mountains into his mansion, so he refused them all entry.
The Emperor was pleased with this outcome. In the Yan Kingdom, there was no law requiring the emperor to pass the throne to the eldest son; the most capable son had always been chosen. The emergence of a new ninth prince had stirred up the fighting spirit of the Crown Prince and the Fifth Prince, which was not necessarily a bad thing. At least it would allow the Crown Prince to focus more on state affairs and stop thinking that he could easily rule the world by doing nothing.
After Lu Huan conveyed his birth date and time to the Emperor through the Minister of War, the Empress was turned away by the Emperor. Knowing that if she tried to place someone in Lu Huan’s entourage through the selection of concubines, she would probably anger the Emperor, she had no choice but to give up for the time being.
After Lu Huan regained his identity as the Ninth Prince, many officials in the capital came to his door to propose marriage. However, after the Empress and the Crown Prince made no move, these people who had been flocking to the Ninth Prince’s residence gradually disappeared.
….
Lu Huan was finally able to have some peace and quiet in the mansion.
Taking advantage of this opportunity, he handled many government affairs and quickly received new tasks in the system.
Recently, several theft and robbery incidents caused by bandits have occurred in the capital.
If these things had happened in other states, they would have been considered ordinary civil cases. However, because they occurred right under the emperor’s nose, and the Empress Dowager had just witnessed them a few days earlier when she went to worship Buddha and was nearly frightened into fainting, the emperor ordered all officials to deal with the matter as soon as possible.
Arresting a few bandits and imprisoning them was a very simple matter; the Prefect of the Capital could easily send a few men.
However, to truly resolve this matter, a thorough investigation was needed of the major gambling dens and brothels in the capital, the East and West Markets frequented by foreign merchants, and the poorly managed outer city and areas outside the capital. Most of the bandits who frequently caused trouble are hiding outside the city.
The scope was quite large.
Even after thoroughly investigating these places, before the bandits started causing trouble, it was impossible to distinguish between ordinary people and villains.
After much back and forth, the Ministry of Justice and the Prefect of the Capital couldn’t come up with a solution and got into a heated argument in the Golden Palace.
In just two days, two more murders occurred in the capital.
The system’s seventeenth task concerned this matter: [Please accept Task Seventeen: Frequent murders in the capital have caused widespread fear among the people. Please devise a solution as soon as possible to reduce the crime rate and implement it in all prefectures! Reward: 3000 Gold Coins, 15 Points.]
After accepting the task, Lu Huan did not act rashly. He first sent his subordinates to the Dali Temple to retrieve the files of prisoners who had committed murder and were imprisoned recently, and to check the reasons.
Recently, the Fifth Prince had been trying to compete with him. On the surface, the Emperor had entrusted this matter to the Fifth Prince, so he could not openly investigate the case. Therefore, he specially sent his subordinates to the Ministry of War’s residence and, by taking a roundabout route, managed to obtain the scrolls.
When the scroll was presented, Lu Huan spent an entire night reading through it and got a general idea of what was going on.
Before dawn, he had the scrolls returned and gave some instructions to his subordinates.
….
Su Xi opened her phone and saw that he was handling government affairs, she knew that he was probably investigating Mission Seventeen.
Su Xi was listless and had no intention of participating. He figured he could handle whatever happened. Before, Su Xi was always anxious and eager to help, because of a mother’s mentality; she was always worried about her son and afraid he would get hurt. But since the battle in the Northern Border, Su Xi realized that her son didn’t need her help much in these matters anymore.
Especially now that they were in the capital, even if the Fifth Prince and the Crown Prince disliked the young master, they couldn’t possibly assassinate him right under the emperor’s nose. And when it came to scheming, how could they possibly outmaneuver the young master? Who knew who might kill whom? Therefore, Su Xi had even less reason to worry about it.
She was saddened and depressed about this when she was in the North, feeling that her boyfriend no longer needed her. But now, Su Xi had successfully transitioned from a doting mother to a girlfriend – wasn’t it good that her boyfriend was capable and responsible and didn’t require her to worry?! Wasn’t it better to just admire his looks?!
In fact, Su Xi enjoyed watching palace intrigue and political dramas, but when she actually got involved, she was completely bewildered and her brain wasn’t up to the task. So, since her partner was smart, she would just relax and do nothing.
….
Lu Huan’s matter still needed to wait, and he didn’t need to attend court every day. So, after finishing his official duties in the morning, he took his leave and instructed the guards outside not to let anyone in. He planned to take a short rest, but as soon as he turned around, he came to Su Xi’s place.
Su Xi’s parents weren’t home, and Su Xi was secretly unpacking a package in her room. When she saw Lu Huan, her eyes lit up, and she said to him mysteriously, “Come on, help me unpack this package.”
Lu Huan lifted his robe and squatted down beside her, turning the box in front of him to check the shipping address. The shipping address was in a place two provinces away, almost thousands of kilometers away from Su Xi’s home. He couldn’t help but exclaim, “Purchased the day before yesterday, and it arrived today. It’s so fast!”
Su Xi put down the scissors in her hand and looked at him: “Lu Huan, how did you know I bought them the day before yesterday? You were peeking at me again!”
That was the downside of two-way video calls; you could see the other person anytime, anywhere.
When Su Xi first learned that Lu Huan could see her as soon as he opened the curtain, her cheeks burned. She washed her hair for several days in a row and sat properly on the sofa every day, trying her best to be a refined girl.
But she couldn’t keep it up for more than four days… Maintaining her image was so damn tiring… She went back to her lazy self, lying on the sofa eating potato chips.
Therefore, she forced Lu Huan not to open the curtain to look at her anytime and anywhere. If he wanted to look, he had to tell her in advance, so that she could at least rush into the bathroom to put on some makeup!
Lu Huan was speechless, realizing he had let something slip.
Su Xi was furious: “And it happened during court!”
She bought clothes for Lu Huan, wanting to surprise him. She didn’t want him to see them from behind the curtain, so she specially placed the order when he was going to court and it was impossible for him to open the curtain.
As Lu Huan tore the package in front of him apart with his bare hands, he looked up and said with some grievance, “The constant bickering among the court officials in the Golden Palace is really a headache.”
The noise was making his head buzz; all he wanted was to open the curtain and see what she was doing, just to have some peace and quiet.
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